


Stay

by dammitspawk



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 00:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5070430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dammitspawk/pseuds/dammitspawk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney walked with John down the corridor towards the living quarters in silence. That itself should have been unsettling but they’d been through so much in the last week John didn’t have the energy to question it and that was enough to show the silence might not have been so questionable after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [popkin16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/popkin16/gifts).



> Another fic based on one of popkin16's prompts! This one had been exhausted boys after saving Atantis once again.

John could feel every bone in his body protest against the muscles they were attached to as he walked through the gate. It was a feeling that was depressingly familiar to him. The ache that seated itself in your body after staying awake for days on end working non-stop to save the city.

There was a slight lift in weight when he saw Rodney waiting on the other side. But it settled again when he saw the same weight reflected in Rodney’s eyes and the bags underneath them. Even Woolsey overlooking their return from the balcony off his office looked weathered and that was a true sign of the strain.

“Sheppard!” Rodney said coming towards him.

“Rodney…”

It was almost as if they were going to hug. But they didn’t. Teyla and Ronon came up beside them from behind. The one surviving marine from the squad of ten that had followed them through the gate trailed behind before the gate shut off.

“It worked.” Rodney said with in a defeated tone. It had but at a cost of too many lives.

In less than a moment the medics had surrounded them and were trying to coax Ronon onto a stretcher against is loud protests. Woolsey came down with words and soon they were all on their way to the infirmary.

Later when they had been cleared Rodney walked with John down the corridor towards the living quarters in silence. That itself should have been unsettling but they’d been through so much in the last week John didn’t have the energy to question it and that was enough to show the silence might not have been so questionable after all.

When they reached John’s quarters he invited Rodney in with a wave of his hand which was soon after filled with a beer. They didn’t bother even going to the pier but sat on John’s bed instead. Sometime around halfway through the 24 they started talking.

They’d stopped playing the ‘if only I’d’ game years ago and limped through ‘we (I) had lost you’s until really they just stopped talking about 'what if’s entirely and now just took comfort in each others presence and a few beers to numb the feeling of 'god that was close.’

And after they’d had enough Rodney stood (and almost came back down) and turned to John.

“Well I suppose I’d better- I don’t really want to-”

It was clear he didn’t want to leave and John didn’t want him to either. And so he said,

“Stay.”

Rodney stood for a minute giving John to change his mind. Instead he just unlaced his boots and popped his feet onto the bed, shifting over to make room for Rodney. Rodney slipped off his own shoes before climbing in beside him.

It wasn’t the first time they’d done this, but they usually stayed in Rodney’s room (after John had walked with him back from the pier) which had a much bigger bed. They were grimy and sweaty and both in need of a shower and a change but it really didn’t matter.

Within minutes they were both asleep, Rodney’s head on John’s shoulder and hand spread across his chest.


End file.
